. right now a live look outside. rain is moving into our region causing slick roads and the potential for a messy morning commute. that same weather system has the northeast on alert this morning. how the approaching snowstorm could impact your own plans in the d.c. area. good morning everybody. it's 4:00 a.m. i'm aaron gilchrist. i'm eun yang. welcome to this friday, february 8, 2013. we're tracking a historic blizzard that could hit the roads in hours from now. pennsylvania, massachusetts spent the hours loading up on

salt and sand ahead of the storm. as much as 2 feet of snow could fall in boston. schools in new england already decided to close today. >> look at what the northeast could look like. this was wisconsin yesterday. that same system heading toward new york and new england dumped more than a half of foot of snow on southern wisconsin. slick roads caused more than 30 accidents in the kenosha area alone. time to get a first look at the forecast. tom kierein has been tracking the storm and finding what's going on with our weather. tom? >> the key thing is the temperatures. they are above freezing. the road temperatures above freezing. most of northern virginia and air temperatures near the freezing mark. farther north and west as we look at the radar, we have snow falling here. both of these storms will be combining to create that blizzard for new england. for us, the area in white getting some snow in loudoun county, southern frederick county. there's snow all across fauquier

county, culpeper and parts of the shenandoah valley. generally, light to moderate snow. elsewhere, the other colors, it's all rain. it's all rain around washington and southern montgomery county and the district of columbia. this snow is coming down a little more moderately, west of leesburg, big flakes there as well as from warren on to culpeper. there could be an inch in the purple color, there could be an inch of snow, maybe sleet mixing in. that includes the nearby counties. northern fauquier, points north and west. the rest of the region all rain. it will change over to all rain by noontime and temperatures in the upper 30s. i'm back with frequent updates throughout the morning. have a look at traffic now and how the precipitation is affecting the roadways. good morning, danella. good morning.

slick conditions. as far as accidents, looks nice and clear in the area. a closer look if you're traveling 295, bw parkway in maryland as well as i-95 in md mtd. heads up, southbound between 198 and the icc had roadwork there. checking cameras in the area, no issues to report. the trip out of frederick toward the beltway, you're clear in germantown, no issues as you continue towards rockville. connecting to the beltway, inner loop and outer loop in montgomery county, nice and clear. back in ten. eun, we'll head to virginia then. >> flakes have yet to start falling, but the travel situation is problematic. airline tracking websites flight aware.com and it reports that more than 2900 flights have been scrapped through tomorrow. delays and cancellations are starting to stack up on local departure boards. here's a live look at reagan national right now. megan mcgrath is there with more information. megan? imt. >> reporter: the strategy of the airlines is to get as many

flights out this morning as they can to these affected areas. then we'll see the cancellations later in the day. some people are being proactive. we're here at reagan national. these gentlemen snoozing right here, they're from the new york area. they had plans to go to las vegas. they heard about all of the cancellations that are looming ahead with the weather we're expecting here. they decided to change their plans to leave early so that they wouldn't get caught up in it all. all flights are okay. they're expecting to get to vegas on time. they're being proactive. there are many more people, thousands of people who are no doubt going to get caught up in the snowball of cancellations. we're expecting major, major problems when the weather starts to hit here. right now on the board at reagan national airport, we're seeing one cancellation to boston. look at this video here. this was shot in boston at logan airport. you can see the snow movers and the equipment. they are preparing, bracing and dealing with major, major snow in that area. that, of course, is going to

cause all kinds of problems later in the afternoon. if you look at the flights scheduled for late morning, early afternoon, that's when you start to see the cancellations. things are going to get hairy. most major airlines changed policies to allow you to adjust your flight. they won't charge you those fees. but it's going to get ugly this afternoon. reporting live at reagan national airport, megan mcgrath, news 4. back to you in the studio. >> hopping a train may be your best bet to get out of town right now. amtrak tells us that right now it's planning to run normal northeast service between d.c. and new york city this morning. but not continuing north of new york is where you will run into problems. all service between the big apple and boston will be suspended just after noon today. that also could change. that could change quickly. keep it right here and we'll update you on the latest travel troubles. melissa mollet joins us from the live desk with breaking news. melissa? >> at least 26 people have been killed, dozens hurt after back-to-back bombings targeting

shiite muslims in baghdad. it went off at a pet market this morning and about a minute later, 100 yards away a second blast went off in a parked car exploded. melissa mollet at the live desk. prince george's county police helping university of maryland police track down a man who robbed a woman. she was walking through the lot near the chemical nuclear energy building last night. a man pulled a gun on her. she says he took cash can, gift cards and other items. the victim could only give detectives a vague description of the robber. this morning, we're getting a new look at the man police believe has groped more than 20 women in the past five months. fairfax county police released this new police sketch yesterday. take a look. investigators believe the man is behind 18 different instances of women being grabbed as they walk through the town of springfield. with no forensic evidence, the

investigation is slow going. >> i am talking with the police, working with the police on a regular basis. it's going to take citizens to catch this person. we just need to make sure our citizens are alert. >> congressman jerry connolly is concerned about the ongoing incidents. he says i share the concerns of the community about the series of sexual a calls in springfield and am confident that the police will bring the incidents to an end. seven after the hour. a former l.a. cop wanted for killing three people, including a police officer. last night christopher dorner's burned out pickup truck was found as well as footprints from the scene. he is wanted in the shooting death of a couple and ambushing four officers yesterday in two separate incidents. one of the officers was killed. investigators say he's armed and extremely dangerous. >> of course, he knows what he's doing. we trained him. he was also a member of the

armed forces. it is extremely worrisome and scary. >> we don't know what he's going to do. we know what he's capable of doing. and we need to find him. >> dorner, recently posted an online manifesto warning that he would go after the officers and families responsible for firing him from the police force back in 2008. the invitation that will bring stephen coal pert to virginia today. why we don't expect his comments to be about humor. the rain started falling within the last few hours. we'll show you what to expect before you head out. plus, when will it all stop?

a live look at conditions outside our studios at this hour. not a lot of wind, just light rain falling as is the case across many parts of the region

right now. >> i think if you go farther west, might see different types of precipitation. let's check with meteorologist tom kierein to see what's going on. >> on radar, we're picking up some snow north and west of the metro area. elsewhere, the other colors, it's all rain. that includes around washington. most of montgomery county, fairfax, arlington, prince george's, southern maryland. a little bit of wet snow is falling and melting on roadways in northern montgomery county, part of frederick county, maryland into frederick county, virginia, loudoun, fauquier, culpeper, rappahannock, getting some of that light snow. temperatures, well they're around the freezing mark. but the road temperatures, again, as i mentioned, are above freezing. so the snow is melting on most roadways. these areas in the lavender may get up to an inch of snow mainly on the, of course, grassy areas and maybe some of the higher elevations. as we get to by mid-morning, even out there, it's going to be all rain. elsewhere, rain through the morning and upper 30s by noontime. into tonight, we might get some

flurries moving in. details on that in ten minutes. a look at traffic with danella, good morning. >> good morning. in our area, other than wet roads, things are clear. i-95 in virginia heading from stafford to the beld beltway, travel lanes are open in both directions. no issues to report outside the beltway. inside the beltway, here's a look at glebe. just wet roadways. to accidents, not seeing construction to warn you about now. aaron and eun. >> thank you, danella. a ten hit by a car. how police got help tracking down the driver responsible. the sendoff planned for outgoing defense secretary leon panetta. >> rain and even snow this morning. live outside of union station in northeast washington. [ male announcer ] so there's lots of people out there

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winter storm bears down on the east coast. here's a live look at the roads in virginia. i-66 at glebe road there. things moving smoothly at this point. we'll keep you posted on conditions as they change as well as those here in the district and in maryland and west virginia as well. you can also get the forecast wherever you are with our storm team 4 weather app. it's free. this morning, a teen will learn his fate after shooting a classmate outside a d.c. high school. brandon smothers is guilty of shooting another student after an argument at coolidge high school in northwest. police say smothers shot the boy multiple times. the victim suffered nonlife-threatening injuries. it was reportedly over who was bett dressed. security sent is the boy home but he returned with a gun and shot the our student. a local teen is -- this happened last night on wheeler road in hoxen hill.

>> heads up of a citizen that was able to observe the vehicle and was able to provide a great description. actually, did a little bit of police work and was able to assist us in finding the vehicle and the driver. >> no formal charges have been filed against the driver. police say he's cooperating with the investigation. a fatal accident to report out of fairfax county. officials with amtrak have confirmed a pedestrian was hit by a train thursday evening. this happened around 7:00 on the tracks between backlick road and the beltway in alexandria. the train was coming from new york heading to new orleans. none of the 226 passengers on that train was injured. the victim is described as an adult male. no further details have been given. this morning, we're learning the names of the two people killed in an apartment fire in southeast washington this week. glenn morris williams and 56 year oiled diane too good were in the building in the 1700

block of r street. it happened at 10:00 a.m. tuesday. aid was called in to fight the massive two-alarm fire. both bodies were found by d.c. fire personnel zoofrjt a mother is charged with killing her young daughter. investigators believe the body of the 2-year-old is likely within piles of trash. police with called wednesday saying they hadn't seen the little girl in days. officers say her mother, chelsea booth confessed to smothering her daughter. booth is charged with first degree murder. today the defense department will say goodbye to secretary leon panetta. president obama and joint chiefs of staff chairman marten dempsey will host a farewell for him this afternoon. panetta testified before the senate arms services committee about the benghazi attack. he said current budget cuts hampered the ability to respond quickly to the attack. the looming budget cuts coming

on march 1st would cause even further damage to america's national defense strategy. >> this is the beginning of a number of steps we're going to have to take that are going to badly damage our readiness. stop this constant uncertainty. this month to month situation where we don't know what the hell we're going to get. >> panetta leaves the defense department without a replacement. a confirmation vote for president obama's nominee chuck hagel is expected in the next few days. 18 after the hour now. john brennan is on track to be the next cia director despite -- members of the senate intelligence committee grilled brennan about his defense of unmanned drones to target and kilter roar suspects overseas. that includes u.s. citizens. he told the committee that the obama administration only uses drone strikes when there are no other options. >> i think there is a misimpression on the part of american people who believe we take strikes to punish

terrorists for past transgressions. nothing could be further from the truth. we only take such actions as a last resort to save lives when there's no other alternative to taking an action that's going to mitigate that threat. >> pro esters interrupted the hearing several times much the head of the committee, dianne feinstein had capitol police clear the room of all spectators. that hearing later resumed with only senate staff members and reporters there. today comedian stephen colbert will speak to democrats in leesburg, virginia. the talk show host will address the conference. he was invited to the retreat saying quote, we assume this is his attempt at bipartisanship. >> he sort of feigns republican. i think if he ran for office, he probably could win something. >> i think he really could. he cree acted that pac and got a lot of money. >> we'll see. coming up on 4:20 on our friday

morning. want to check in with tom kierein to see what's falling. >> we have these two storms converging. they're coming together. one in the upper midwest, the other one over us. they're going to converge and create a big blizzard for southern new england. for us, right now the storm is producing rain. all the air crass in green and yellow and orange, southern maryland, part of the lower eastern shore getting rain. heavier rain from fredericksburg toward waldorf and charles county. farther west, the areas in white, zones where we're getting wet snow. that includes northern montgomery county and parts of loudoun county into northwestern prince william, fauquier, rappahanno rappahannock. the road temperatures are above freezing and the air temperatures above freezing. any of that snow falling there is melting on roadways right now. all these counties in the lavender under an advisory between now and 10:00 a.m. there could be up an inch of snow north and west of

washington. by the time changes over to all rain, which is going to be happening around 9:00 or 10:00 this morning. elsewhere, just going to be all rain throughout the rest of the day today. so be prepared for a wet day. have an umbrella handy. we'll stay in the 30s. above freezing through noontime. near 40 by noontime, then hit the mid-40s by mid afternoon with more rain and then the rain tapers off and ends and clears out and maybe even snow flurries flying through the air. the winds will increase tonight after 6:00, 7:00 this evening until midnight. after that, winds gusting maybe 35, 40 miles an hour drawing in cold air and maybe some flurries flying through the air. that will be late tonight and perhaps into the pre-dawn hours on saturday. here's the four-day forecast fl we'll have sun back but a gusty wind, maybe 40 mile an hour gusts tomorrow morning. the winds diminish by tomorrow afternoon. near 40 for highs tomorrow. mid-20s in the morning. mid-20s on sunday morning. a light wind on sunday.

highs mid-40s. monday, could get rain mainly in the morning through midday with highs around 50 degrees. the next seven days, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, milder air moving in. could get more rain on wednesday. i'm back with frequent updates throughout the morning with all of this precipitation coming through, wide variety of it. my next update in ten minutes. a look at traffic now. first 4 traffic with danella. >> how is this affecting the beltway? >> pretty wet but no major delays or accidents. not too bad. let's take a live look as you're crossing the beltway at 50 in maryland. traveling the inner loop and outer loop, you are clear. continuing in prince george's county across the wilso bridge. we'll take a closer look. the road is just wet. as far as accidents, pretty clear. continuing the commute into virginia from the wilson bridge heading towards the interchange and looping around to the american legion bridge in maryland, nice and clear. i'm back in ten. aaron and eun, over to you. >> thanks, danella. we're awaiting word from

boeing when it will begin test flights on the dreamliner. the faa gave the company permission to conduct those tests as it tries to fix problems with the plane's lithium-ion batteries. boeing can only fly them over unpopulated areas. the faa won't allow dreamliners to be used for passenger flights until they're sure the battery problem is fixed. no such thing as a post christmas sales slump, the 20 biggest retailers -- the international council of shopping centers say piers were taking advantage much clearance racks. spending is expected to slow in spring as deals dry up and consumers clamp down because of gas prices and the payroll tax hike. 4:23 is our time. many of you are dreading it right now. the stress that comes with going to work. new research shows the impact it could have on your health. and the new numbers out today that show jobs people dodge paying on the dulles toll

road. we're monitoring road conditions for you at this hour with all that overnight rain. we'll

4:26 is your time. you're looking live at interstate 495 at the woodrow wilson bridge. obviously wet roads to deal with as you work your way out to the highways had morning. a complete look at what you can expect trafficwise and weatherwise in a moment. we're still waiting for a comment from the redskins over renewed pressure to change the team's name. hundreds much people packed the national museum of the american indian yesterday for a symposium on racial stereotypes in sports. the redskins name played a prominent role in the discussion. some american indians call it racist. on the streets of washington, fans are divided on whether the team should change its name. >> how would you feel about changing the name redskins? >> wow.

that would hurt. i couldn't do that. >> i'm a lifetime red skin fan. >> if they were to change the name -- >> i would still be a red skin name. i prefer them changing their name. >> why? >> because the indians want them to change it. mike weiss suggests changing the team to the warriors to honor service members and veterans. michael bloomberg is helping to fund april major initiative to find a cure for a.l.s. commonly known as lou gehrig's disease. he teamed up with the d.c.-based carlisle group and donated $25 million to create target als. it's the next phase of a research project in new york and johns hopkins university in baltimore. the short term goal is to develop drugs for a.l.s. and then eventually find effective therapies for that disease. if you felt more stressed out lately than usual, you're not alone. according to an online survey, americans between 18 and 33 are more stressed now than they were

a year ago. more than half of them say it's causing them to lose sleep. psychologists say high student loans and a sluggish job market are factors. doctors say it contributes to several health issues, including obesity and hypertension. researchers say they found no correlation between work-related stress and the development of cancer. >> i've learned the value of vacation in my 30s. time off. you got to breathe. just got to relax. this morning, a new study giving parents advice on what to do when their babies cry at night. >> a new study by psychologist marcia wine rob says it's best to let your baby cry rather than trying to soothe him or her. doing so helps your baby learn to self-soothe and even reduces parents' anxiety. >> very painful, but you have to say that's my baby and she's learning a new skill. parents who are the adults in this interaction, have to learn

to hold back. >> the doctor also says babies who have trouble falling back to sleep are generally fussy, overly attentive parents and become used to falling asleep from their parents' arms. >> you know what, guilty as charged. because i find that when the baby starts crying for a long period of time, i can't handle it. i have to pick her up. >> are you soothing yourself or the baby? >> i'm soothing the baby. when i pick him up, he stops crying. there you go. >> what do i know? >> stay with us. "news4 today" continues right now at 4:30. two major weather systems set their sights on the northeast. >> winter weather along with friday traffic could mean a mess on the roads in the hours to come. >> good morning everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. i'm eun yang. welcome to "news4 today" for this friday, february 8, 2013.